


Finally Safe to Crumble

by Pumpkin (TheSelfieOfDorianGray)



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Bending (Avatar TV), Bisexual Sokka (Avatar), Bubble Bath, Childhood Trauma, Cuddling & Snuggling, Depressed Zuko (Avatar), Fluff, Gay Zuko (Avatar), Gen, Hakoda (Avatar) is a Good Parent, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Masturbation in Bathroom, Mentioned Aang - Freeform, Mentioned Toph Beifong - Freeform, Nail Polish, Ozai (Avatar) is an Asshole, Protective Katara (Avatar), Protective Sokka (Avatar), Protective Suki(Avatar), Psychological Trauma, Self-Acceptance, Sleepovers, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, that sounds dirty but I think it was kind of sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:34:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28395435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSelfieOfDorianGray/pseuds/Pumpkin
Summary: Zuko has finally made it to a safe home with his uncle, but now that he’s out of harms way, he has to face the trauma.It’s not much, but his friends decide to give him a night to indulge in self love and self care.He’s got a long road to recovery, but he had a nice time with the girls.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar), The Gaang & Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 153





	Finally Safe to Crumble

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah there’s a tag for bath masturbation. That does happen but it’s not described and it’s actually kinda said sweetly. Like someone really feeling calm enough with themselves to give themselves that pleasure. Plus I’m Wiccan and I kind of view that sort of thing spiritually. This is fluffy guys it’s not dirty I swear. I really felt this one, and I’m proud.

It was on a cold day in January that Iroh finally got full custody of his nephew. Zuko was getting old, not but a few days over 16, but late was better than never. He had finally got his nephew to safety. 

Zuko had managed to befriend a few kids at school almost a year prior. Or rather, they befriended him. Iroh owed it to them that Zuko was finally able to see that he needed help. It was easy for him to pretend constant bruises and injuries were normal when he had nobody to compare himself too. And so Zuko had no friends for the first 15 years of his life. 

But now Zuko is here with him in a safe environment, one that he had spent time in and out of over the years when Iroh was granted temporary custody for however long it took for them to decide that Ozai wasn’t abusing his kids. They always did come to that false conclusion. This time, however, the custody was not temporary.

Zuko was in a safe space, and suddenly he had to face all of the suppressed emotions that came with being in an unsafe environment for so long. He was safe to finally crumble. 

And crumble he did. His friends noticed the change instantly, though they were aware of the big changes happening in his life and tried to be kind about it. 

“Hey, babe,” Sokka approached Zuko where he hunched in his chair in the back corner seat before the bell rang to start class. It was two days into the change. 

Zuko answered in a small grunt without picking his head up off the desk. 

“I’ve got the homework answers if you need them,” Sokka invited softly. 

Zuko looked up slowly with a blank face, but sad eyes. 

“Really,” he croaked, his voice sounded like he’d been crying. 

Sokka nodded and pulled out his sheet, looking around to make sure the teacher hadn’t come in, but the bell didn’t ring for another 10 minutes. Zuko scribbled the answers onto his completely blank sheet with shaky hands. 

Sokka and the others found themselves asking the day before why he had to go straight back to school without a single day to adjust. Zuko had shrugged and whispered something about already reaching truancy. (A/n where I’m from if you miss too many days you’ll get sent a ‘truancy letter’ that states if you miss any more you’re parents have to go to court to make sure they are not neglecting their children) They didn’t ask again because they knew exactly why he had already missed so many days. 

After a week of Zuko’s change, and still a week out until he started therapy, Suki and Katara decided they would do something nice for him. They had all been helping him get his work done, but they wanted to give him a special day all for him that weekend. Everyone pitched in on the supplies, but they decided it would probably make it more relaxing with fewer of them there. And so it would be a day for the girls and the gays. (But Toph didn’t want to be included in this kind of thing so she just payed for some stuff.)

On Friday evening, Katara, Suki, and Sokka (he was just driving) showed up at Iroh’s door demanding to steal Zuko. With a bit of coaxing, they got him into the car. 

“So what are we doing?” He asked quietly in the backseat next to Suki. 

“We’re having a ‘Let’s Give Zuko Love’/‘Girls and Gays’ night,” Katara explained. “And Sokka’s not really gonna be sticking his ass around unless we need him.”

“That’s bi-erasure,” Sokka quipped from the driver seat. 

“Nah you’re just not invited because you’re the buff boyfriend. Buff boyfriends aren’t aloud at these kinds of things, Sokka,” Suki proclaimed. 

“Hmm sounds sus but ok.”

With that, they pulled into Katara and Sokka’s drive way. It was a fairly big house, one that Zuko’s old house would sneeze at, but huge compared to his Uncle’s cozy little apartment. He’d been there often, being friends with Katara and dating Sokka. Hakoda and Kanna treated him like part of the family. Something that when he first started hanging out here, he didn’t have. 

“Zukooo! Baby, how are you. Irohs told me all about what’s been going on. I’m so happy to see you,” Kanna, an old Inuit woman, doted as he walked through the door. 

“I’m doing fine,” he ducked his head to hide his blush. 

“We’re gonna go get started, so call us when it’s ready?” Katara asked as her and Suki pushed Zuko towards the stairs. 

Kanna nodded with a gentle smile and turned to Sokka. 

“Welp lets get to it. I’m assuming you want to help?” Kanna asked, already grabbing a spare apron. 

“Of course. Plus, neither of us have made this, so we should probably put our heads together, Gran Gran.” Sokka put on his apron as Kanna chuckled. “You do know that this will probably be too spicy for anyone but Zuko?”

“Yep I am aware,” Kanna continued chuckling. 

~~*~~

Upstairs, the girls led Zuko to Katara’s built in bathroom. Her’s was the only one with a jacuzzi bathtub. She had it installed not long after they moved in. While they were out, Aang was supposed to have come in and set up the bathroom with candles and drew a bath with salts and bubbles. A quick phone check assured he had left just seconds before they came in so the bath was piping hot. 

Zuko stood staring at the beautiful bathroom. 

“Well go on,” Suki smiled. “This is all for you. Enjoy. Maybe even pleasure yourself a little. A lot of people do in baths; it can actually be a pretty big part of self care.”

Zuko went bright red at that part. 

“Suki... you can’t just say things like that,” he mumbled gruffly. 

“Eh, I believe in de-stigmatizing it. My point is, we’re not going to judge or even be paying attention to what you do in this gorgeous bathroom. See ya when you’re ready to get out. Just call.” And with that, they closed him in. 

He turned toward the bath and thought maybe this wouldn’t be super bad. He undressed in the dim lighting and settled in with a quiet slosh of the water. 

The air smelled sweet, like brown sugar and cinnamon. It was dead silent besides the bubbling of the jets, jets that were strategically placed at where the user’s back would be propped. It massaged the mussels that had been clenched for so so long. He dunked under to get his hair wet and found he liked the way the world seemed to muffle in his only working ear. When he rose back up he was met with the warm, orange lighting and he couldn’t decide which he liked more. 

He laid there for a while, just taking in the ambiance. It occurred to him that is was a very romantic thing to be sharing alone. Then it occurred to him that perhaps that was the point. This wasn’t a time to love another person. It was a time to love himself. And if he touched himself, made himself feel good like Suki suggested, well that was no ones business but his and the walls. 

It was a solid hour and a half when Zuko coaxed himself to get out of the bath. He climbed out onto the bath mat and reached for one of Katara’s fluffy, baby blue towels that had been placed on a rack next to the tub. He dried himself, rapped the towel around him, and tip toed over to the door and gave it a knock. 

“Guys I’m done. Do you have any clothes I can borrow.”

Katara opened the door a second later with a warm smile, one that he thinks he’ll see a lot of this evening. But for once he didn’t feel like fighting it. 

“Way ahead of you, babe,” she answered and handed him some clothes. 

She left and he got dressed in the boxers, sweatpants, and T-shirt that all smelled like Sokka. It felt nice, he decided. 

When he stepped out, they were all there including Sokka. The brown skinned boy held a piece of clothing. 

“And the finishing touch,” he offered as Zuko approached him. 

Sokka unballed the fabric to reveal a big, familiar hoodie. He helped tug it over Zuko’s head and then pulled him into a hug. 

“We keep it cold and you’re already cold natured. This’ll keep you nice and warm,” he whispered and kissed him on the nose. “Gotta go, button.”

And with his leave, Zuko finally noticed the big spa set up in the bedroom floor. Suki and Katara, both in pajamas, beckoned him over to sit cross legged with them around an elevated tray of face mask options. 

“So I know you probably want the peel off raspberry mask like usual, but I thought I’d give you some options here,” Katara explained as she waved her hands over the table like a game show prize presenter. 

“I’ve never seen a lot of these and... “ he read one of the new bottles, “Lavender— you hate lavender.”

“Well you see... Toph was supposed to go buy a couple new masks... she bought more than a couple,” Suki explained, grimacing at the large pile. 

“You guys shouldn’t be spending so much money on me!” He tried to protest, reaching a hand up to pull at his wet hair, a nervous habit. 

“Hey hey,” Katara coaxed his hand back down calmly. “Toph is rich, Aang already had all of those candels, and Suki had the bath salts, and I, well my wonderful bathtub is always there for any of my friends to use.”

Zuko nodded slowly, still trying to force himself to be ok with people showing him kindness. 

“That pink Himalayan mud mask looks nice,” he tried to smile. It was small but there. 

“That’s what I was thinking!” Katara grabbed the pretty pink canister and looked it over. “This shit is like premium.”

So they all brushed on the mask and divided the other new masks between them, knowing full well that Toph would never be willing to give her parents back money. 

They sat and chit chatted while waiting to rinse their masks. Suki handed around some bottles of water. 

“You especially need to drink some water, Zuko. I have like five classes and lunch with you, and I haven’t see you drink anything other than Monster all week,” Suki chastised. 

Zuko hadn’t even thought about it, but she was completely right. He hadn’t been sleeping well, so he was trying to keep his energy up with Monster. It wasn’t even working, he had been falling asleep in even classes he usually liked. He decided he could probably do well to open up about that. 

“I’ve just been having a lot of nightmares is all. The Monsters haven’t helped anyways. The teachers know what’s been happening so they haven’t got me in trouble, but I’ve been falling asleep in class a lot,” he told them in his usual deep, scratchy drawl and slight lisp. “You guys have helped a lot with the work though. Thanks.”

“Anytime.” Katara smiled. 

Then Sokka came in to tell them dinner was ready. He went back down while they washed off the masks. On their way down they were hit with an amazing, savory smell. 

They all padded into the kitchen and found Kanna and Sokka working together to spoon some very spicy looking tantanmen into bowls. 

“You— you made tantanmen?” Zuko breathed quietly. “That’s what my-“

“Mom used to make. You’re welcome, sugar,” Sokka finished, sitting down a bowl to embrace Zuko tightly.

“Thank you.”

They all sat down and before anyone could start eating, Sokka gave a warning. 

“Like I told Gran Gran earlier, nobody but Zuko is going to eat this comfortably,” he laughed. “It is hotter than Agni, I swear. Be careful.”

He was right. Everybody ate it with pained looks on their faces. Everybody but Zuko. He ate away at it contently, while the others guzzled water.

“Tui and La it is so good but so painful,” Katara whined. “Why is a part of you’re culture?”

“Lotta peppers grow in Caldera,” Zuko replied briskly and swallowed another bite. “Why is super salty food a part of yours?”

“Because there is lots of salt in the South Pole and absolutely no herbs unless they’re imported,” Kanna provided. 

Just then, Hakoda walked through the door. 

“Sorry work ran late. Supper smells... interesting,” he called before he made it into the kitchen. 

All of the children through him off for a second. 

“Oh hi Zuko, Suki,” he nodded at them. “What’s going on here?”

“It’s a ‘Give Zuko Love/‘Girls and Gays’ night,” Katara explained as she poured her third glass of water. “We wanted to make a special Caldera meal for him but it’s like super spicy.”

“But it tastes exactly like what it’s supposed to. You guys did really good,” Zuko defended and sipped his barely touched water. 

“Thanks, babe,” Sokka winked, acting as if his lips weren’t on fire. 

Hakoda took up the last open chair and Kanna handed him a bowl. 

“I’m sure it’s not that bad,” he scoffed, bringing the spoon up to his lips. 

The huge man’s eyes went blood shot and if he didn’t have brown skin he would surly be bright red in the face. Zuko just quietly chuckled as he continued eating the awesome food. 

After everybody was finished, Sokka joined the others upstairs in Katara’s bedroom. She got out her big nail box and left it for everyone to pick out a color. Zuko picked gold, Suki picked a rosy pink, Sokka picked teal, and Katara picked lilac. 

As Katara began her work on filing Zuko’s nail, they felt a shift in the silence. As if something serious should be filling that silence. 

“Zuko, I hope you know that we are always here for you if you need anything. You’re a stubborn guy, so I just like to remind you,” Suki starts the conversation. “If you need someone to talk to, we’ll listen.”

Zuko sighs and leans into Sokka, who puts his arm around him. 

“It’s easy to forget you’re not alone when you’ve spent so much time alone,” he finally says after a short silence. “It has been a rough week.”

“We know. And it is super ok to be a bit jumbled up by it all. You’ve done better than I would,” Katara says as she unscrews the cap on the base coat.

“You know bunny, I read that trauma usually shows itself after the event happens. Once you’re safe, you’re brain finally knows it’s ok to feel it all. You’re safe, baby,” Sokka cooed and this caused tears to streak down Zuko’s face. 

“I—I’m safe?” He whimpered fearfully. 

“You are.” 

Zuko continued to cry until his nails were done. Katara moved on to Suki, not willing to remove Sokka’s arms from around Zuko. The poor boy began to look tired and his eyelids got heavy. 

“You know bud, this isn’t like our other sleepovers. Sleeping is encouraged. You don’t have to fight it,” Suki said, trying to crane her neck towards them without moving her hands. 

“Yeah, come on,” Sokka stood slowly and brought Zuko up to. “Let’s pull out the futon so you can lay down.”

Sokka didn’t make the exhausted looking thing help him with the futon. He pulled it out from under Katara’s bed and put a sheet a blankets on it from her closet. By the time it was done, Zuko was swaying on his feet. 

“Come on,” Sokka guided him down onto the futon and laid next to him. 

“Staying?” Zuko asked cutely with half lidded eyes. 

“Yeah I’m staying,” Sokka assured him with a thought that Zuko would probably not be falling asleep so easily in the first place if Sokka hadn’t have been holding him protectively. 

Sokka brought the covers over them and watched Katara and Suki finish each other’s nails. 

Zuko fell into a deep sleep very fast. He didn’t even have any nightmares. It was a wonderful night. When Zuko woke up in Sokka’s strong arms, he found himself wondering, not for the first time, what he did to deserve his friends. Then, he got a thought that he had never though before. Maybe, just maybe, existing was enough of a reason.


End file.
